Cassette feed-out device

ABSTRACT

A feed-out device for extracting the leading end of a strip wound on a cassetted reel has a stripper hinged to the forward end of a support, which is inserted into the cassette during feed-out. The support is provided with a bearing surface which engages the strip roll periphery, and the stripper is biased resiliently to engage the roll periphery - thus irrespective of the size of the roll, the thrust of the stripper against its surface and its angle of attack remain substantially constant.

United States Patent [191 Eitzenberger 1451 May 15, 1973 1 1 CASSETTE FEED-OUT DEVICE [75] Inventor: Friedrich Eitzenberger, Neustadt.

Austria [73] Assignec: Karl Vockenhuber, and Ralmund I Hauser, both of Vienna, Austria 22 Filed: Aug.20, 1971 21 Appl.No.: 173,485

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 28, 1970 Austria ..8749

[52] US. Cl. ..242/192, 226/91, 352/157 [51] Int. Cl. ..G03b 1/04, G1 lb 15/32 [58] Field of Search ..242/192, 197-200,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,429,518 2/1969 McKee ..242/186 3,544,206 12/1970 Freudenschusz ..352/72 3,628,749 12/1971 Ort et a1. ....242/l86 3,670,989 6/1972 Andrews ..242/192 Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian A ttorney- Ernest G. Montague [57] ABSTRACT A feed-out device for extracting the leading end of a strip wound on a cassetted reel has a stripper hinged to the forward end of a support, which is inserted into the cassette during feed-out. The support is provided with a bearing surface which engages the strip roll periphery, and the stripper is biased resiliently to engage the roll periphery thus irrespective of the size of the roll, the thrust of the stripper against its surface and its angle of attack remain substantially constant.

11 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CASSETTE FEED-OUT DEVICE This invention relates to apparatus adapted to utilize a roll of strip mounted on a reel and having a feed-out device for guiding a leading end of the strip away from the roll, the feed-out device being mounted for movement between a rest position at which it is disengaged from the roll and a working position at which it engages the outermost convolution of the roll to strip the leading end of the strip from it. Such a feed-out device is particularily useful on a small film projector adapted to take film cassettes, although it will be appreciated that the feed-out device may be useful in other applications not related to the film industry, such as tape-recorders, and the invention in its broadest sense should not be construed as being limited to use with cassetted reels.

conventionally, the stripper of a feed-out device serves as a guide for leading the stripped end out of a cassette opening through which the stripper is inserted. Advantageously, the stripper should be capable of operating equally well with large and small diameters of rolled-up strip on the reel. This poses problems, because, in practice a spring used to insert the stripper into the cassette opening exerts a greater thrust on the stripper, and thus on the roll, with a roll of large diameter than with a roll of small diameter. Thus the spring must be chosen with care and often its thrust on a large diameter roll is unnecessarily high in order to ensure that the thrust on a small diameter roll is adequate for stripper operation. Additionally, the angle of attack of the stripper tip to the roll should be maintained sensibly constant irrespective of the roll size. This means a complicated guiding path for the stripper during its insertion into the cassette and can result in inconvenience in designing the guide path for guiding the stripped end from the roll.

An object of this invention is the provision of an improved feed-out device incorporating a stripper.

In accordance with the present invention apparatus adapted to utilize a roll of strip mounted on a reel has a feed-out device for guiding the leading end of the strip away from the roll, such device being mounted for movement between a rest position and a working position and including a support member provided at its end nearer the roll position with a surface for bearing on the roll circumference during stripping and a stripper which is hinged to the support and which is resiliently biased in a direction which urges a tip of the stripper towards the roll.

The bearing surface of the support member is preferably provided by a roller which runs on the circumference of the roll when the feed-out device is in its working position. The bias for the stripper is preferably provided by a spring. Suitably, when the bearing surface is formed by a roller, the stripper hinge is provided by mounting the stripper on the roller. The stripper conveniently has a rearward extension and the side of the stripper adjacent the roll is preferably shaped to provide a corner-free surface for assisting guiding of the strip should its free end be located between the stripper tip and the bearing surface when the feed device is moved to its working position.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates diagrammatically a side view of a small film projector equipped with a feed-out device;

FIG. 2 is a view which shows diagrammatically and to a larger scale, a second form of feed-out device for use with a cassette shown partly broken away; and,

FIG. 3 is a section through part of FIG. 2, taken on the line and in the direction indicated by the areas III- III in that figure.

In FIG. 1, a projector is provided with a feed-out device shown generally at 2. The device 2 is mounted on an arm 3, tumable about apivot 4, so as to be capable of moving from a rest position illustrated in FIG. 1, and lying outside of a cassette 5, to a working position at which the device enters the cassette in much the same way as shown in FIG. 2, where the second embodiment is illustrated. In its working position the feed out device 2 lies against the external circumference of a film reel 6, contained in the cassette 5. The film coil is rotatably driven by frictional engagement with a drive belt 7, of the feed-out device 2. A stripper 8 is additionally shown on the feed-out device 2. The stripper 8 is mounted for pivotable movement about a shaft 10, at the forward end of a support member 9. A spring 1 1 resiliently biases the tip of the stripper 8 towards the roll 6. Also shown on the stripper 8 is an angular projection 12, which abuts the support member 9 when the device 2 is in its rest position, the abutment being maintained by the tension of the spring 11. A roller 13 providing a bearing surface is partially shown at the forward end of the support member 9. This roller 13 could equally well be replaced by a slider.

In the working position of the feed-out device 2, both the roller 13 and the top of the stripper 8 lie on the outside diameter of the film roll 6, the stripper 8 being turned through a small angle against the force of the spring 11, much in the same way as is shown in FIG. 2. It is thus assured that, irrespective of the diameter sizes of the rolls 6, the tip of the stripper 8 continuously engages the roll 6 at the same angle, and the thrust exerted by the spring 11 is maintained at the same magnitude and can therefore be a minimum.

In known feed-out devices the end of the stripper which juts out of the cassette when the device is in its working position, has the function of being a guiding arrangement. This is not possible with the construction illustrated, where the stripper does not protude from the cassette, and, it is in any case unnecessary, as a surface 17 of the support member 9 facing the driving direction of the roll is shaped as a guide for the film.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment in which parts serving the same function as in FIG. 1 are correspondingly referenced. In the feed-out device illustrated in FIG. 2, the belt drive for the film roll is arranged on the support member 9 itself, so that the roller 13 serves, at the same time as acting as a bearing roller, as the drive roller for the roll 6. Once again, as is clear from FIG. 3, the surface 17 of the support member 9, facing the direction of rotation of the roll 6, is shaped to provide a guide surface for guiding the leading end of the film safely out of the cassette 5.

Spaced from the surface but integral with the support member 9 is a second guiding surface provided by a guide rail 14, shown in cross-section in FIG. 3. The guide rail 14 is shaped to define with the surface 17, a channel through which the leading end of the film is guided out of the cassette. A very compact form of feed-out device is attained with the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

A special feature of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is that the stripper 8 which pivots around the shaft 10 of the roller 13 has a rearward extension formed on its side facing the roll 6 with a curved corner-free surface '15. This extension or tail, as clearly shown in FIG. 2, is accommodated in the space between the support member and the boundary wall of the cassette behind the stripper so that the curved surface 15 guides a strip end protuding from the roll towards the cylindrical inside wall of the cassette. In the eventuality that, at the beginning of a threading-out process, the end of the film viewed in the direction of rotation of the roll 6 lies behind the stripper 8, a potentially dangerous situation could arise in that, in the absence of the surface 15, the film end could emerge from the cassette behind the feeding device or could be pushed against the cassette wall bounding the cassette opening 16, resulting in a so-called film salad. The construction of stripper 8 shown in FIG. 2 prevents this from occuring and it may also be used with the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

It will be understood by those skilled-in-the-art that parts of the projector shown in FIG. 1, which are not essential to the comprehension of the invention but which are nevertheless necessary, have not been hitherto mentioned. Such parts comprise a path along which the film from the feed-out device is threaded and which leads to a take-up reel shown in outline in FIG. 1, and projection equipment also partially shown for projecting the film, frame by frame, as it is driven through the projector from the cassette to the take-up reel after extraction of the feed-out device from the cassette.

I claim:

1. Apparatus having parts defining a reel position first means defining a strip threading path extending from said position, a feed-out device at said reel position, a reel drive forming part of said device, a stripper assembly forming part of said device, second means operable to engage said device with a reel at said position and to operate said drive to guide a leading end of a strip coil on said reel when at said position to said strip threading path, a support member forming a first part of said stripper assembly, a stripper hinged to one end of said support member and forming a second part of said stripper assembly, a stripping tip to said stripper, a resilient bias urging said stripper about said one end and pressing said stripper tip in the direction of the roll position, and a bearing surface at said one end of the support member for limiting the approach of the member of the roll to a distance, whereby the angle of the attack and the pressure of the stripper tip on the roll have predetermined and substantially cgnstant values for different roll diameters.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which said stripper co-operates with said support member to limit the angle to which the bias can move the stripper about the one end, and said bias is provided by a spring.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, in which the stripper has an extension on the opposite side of said one end to said tip, and the stripper surface nearer the roll circumference is concave and corner free.

4. Apparatus having parts defining a reel position first means defining a strip feeding path extending from said position, a feed-out device at said reel position, a reel drive on said device, a stripper assembly on said device, second means operable to displace said device to a working position at said position, third means to operate said reel drive at said working position, fourth means on said device defining a guide path for feeding the leading end of a strip from said reel to one end of said strip feeding path at said working position, a support member in said stripper assembly, a stripper having a stripping tip and hinged to a forward end of said support member, a spring bias urging said stripper about said forward end to press said tip towards a strip roll at said strip position, and a bearing surface at said forward end of the support member for limiting its approach to the roll to a distance, whereby the angle of attack and the pressure of said tip on said roll have predetermined substantially constant values for different roll diameters.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said bearing surface comprises a roller, said reel drive comprises a belt passing around a pulley at the forward end of the device, and said stripper has a rearward extension on the side of the forward end opposite said tip and a surface of said stripper adjacent said roll has a concave comer-free surface.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said second means includes an arm pivoted at one end and having said device mounted at its other end, said arm being movable about the one end to displace the device between a rest position and said working position.

7. Apparatus having parts defining a cassette reel position, first means defining a strip-feeding path from said position, a feed-out device at said cassette reel position, a frictional belt drive on said device for driving said reel in said cassette, a stripper assembly on said device, second means operable to displace said device from a rest position at which said belt drive and said stripper assembly are outside said cassette to a working position at which said belt drive and said stripper assembly are introduced into an opening in the cassette to turn said reel by engagement with a periphery of a roll carried thereon, third means defining a guide path for feeding a leading end of the strip from said reel to one end of said strip-feeding path when said device is at said working position, a support member in said stripper assembly, a stripper having a stripping tip and hinged to a forward end of said support member for entry into said cassette opening, a spring bias urging said stripper about said forward end to press said tip towards a strip roll wound on the reel inside said cassette, and a roller at the forward end of said support member and limiting its approach to the roll to a distance whereby the angle of attack and the pressure of said tip on said roll have predetermined substantially constant values for different roll diameters.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said third means are defined by a surface of the member facing the direction of rotation of the reel when driven in the feed-out direction by said belt drive, and an opposing run of said belt drive.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said frictional belt drive runs around said roller.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, in which said third means is provided by a channel defined between opposed surfaces mounted on said member on the side facing the direction of rotation of said roll.

11. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, constructed as movie film projector apparatus and having an extension on said stripper providing an anchorage for one end of said bias spring whose other end is anchored to the support member which is of elongated shape, the surface of said stripper adjacent said roll being concave and comer-free. 

1. Apparatus having parts defining a reel position first means defining a strip threading path extending from said position, a feed-out device at said reel position, a reel drive forming part of said device, a stripper assembly forming part of said device, second means operable to engage said device with a reel at said position and to operate said drive to guide a leading end of a strip coil on said reel when at said position to said strip threading path, a support member forming a first part of said stripper assembly, a stripper hinged to one end of said support member and forming a second part of said stripper assembly, a stripping tip to said stripper, a resilient bias urging said stripper about said one end and pressing said stripper tip in the direction of the roll position, and a bearing surface at said one end of the support member for limiting the approach of the member of the roll to a distance, whereby the angle of the attack and the pressure of the stripper tip on the roll have predetermined and substantially constant values for different roll diameters.
 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which said stripper co-operates with said support member to limit the angle to which the bias can move the stripper about the one end, and said bias is provided by a spring.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, in which the stripper has an extension on the opposite side of said one end to said tip, and the stripper surface nearer the roll circumference is concave and corner free.
 4. Apparatus having parts defining a reel position first means defining a strip feeding path extending from said position, a feed-out device at said reel position, a reel drive on said device, a stripper assembly on said device, second means operable to displace said device to a working position at said position, third means to operate said reel drive at said working position, fourth means on said device defining a guide path for feeding the leading end of a strip from said reel to one end of said strip feeding path at said working position, a support member in said stripper assembly, a stripper having a stripping tip and hinged to a forward end of said support member, a spring bias urging said stripper about said forwaRd end to press said tip towards a strip roll at said strip position, and a bearing surface at said forward end of the support member for limiting its approach to the roll to a distance, whereby the angle of attack and the pressure of said tip on said roll have predetermined substantially constant values for different roll diameters.
 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said bearing surface comprises a roller, said reel drive comprises a belt passing around a pulley at the forward end of the device, and said stripper has a rearward extension on the side of the forward end opposite said tip and a surface of said stripper adjacent said roll has a concave corner-free surface.
 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, in which said second means includes an arm pivoted at one end and having said device mounted at its other end, said arm being movable about the one end to displace the device between a rest position and said working position.
 7. Apparatus having parts defining a cassette reel position, first means defining a strip-feeding path from said position, a feed-out device at said cassette reel position, a frictional belt drive on said device for driving said reel in said cassette, a stripper assembly on said device, second means operable to displace said device from a rest position at which said belt drive and said stripper assembly are outside said cassette to a working position at which said belt drive and said stripper assembly are introduced into an opening in the cassette to turn said reel by engagement with a periphery of a roll carried thereon, third means defining a guide path for feeding a leading end of the strip from said reel to one end of said strip-feeding path when said device is at said working position, a support member in said stripper assembly, a stripper having a stripping tip and hinged to a forward end of said support member for entry into said cassette opening, a spring bias urging said stripper about said forward end to press said tip towards a strip roll wound on the reel inside said cassette, and a roller at the forward end of said support member and limiting its approach to the roll to a distance whereby the angle of attack and the pressure of said tip on said roll have predetermined substantially constant values for different roll diameters.
 8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said third means are defined by a surface of the member facing the direction of rotation of the reel when driven in the feed-out direction by said belt drive, and an opposing run of said belt drive.
 9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, in which said frictional belt drive runs around said roller.
 10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, in which said third means is provided by a channel defined between opposed surfaces mounted on said member on the side facing the direction of rotation of said roll.
 11. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, constructed as movie film projector apparatus and having an extension on said stripper providing an anchorage for one end of said bias spring whose other end is anchored to the support member which is of elongated shape, the surface of said stripper adjacent said roll being concave and corner-free. 